It was only her second day in Washington, and senior Whitey Samaan was already sitting inside the White House complex. Samaan and her fellow Washington Studies Program students met with the special assistant to the president in the Truman Room to discuss their roles and how the government forms partnerships with community-based organizations. The team […]

It was only her second day in Washington, and senior Whitey Samaan was already sitting inside the White House complex.

Samaan and her fellow Washington Studies Program students met with the special assistant to the president in the Truman Room to discuss their roles and how the government forms partnerships with community-based organizations.

The team also got a sneak peak of the new “My Brother’s Keeper” program that President Barack Obama would be releasing the next day. It was a moment she’ll never forget.

“According to Dr. (Bryan) Sanders, meetings at the White House don’t just happen,” Samaan says. “Without a doubt, this was the coolest experience.”

Each spring, the Washington Studies Program gives students like Samaan a taste of what it’s like to have a career in the capital city. A two-week trip, the program involves a week of sightseeing, briefings and private meetings with politicians and organizations followed by a week-long internship where students shadow government workers. Evangel students who take the class GOVT 492 are eligible to apply for the trip.

“The main purpose of the Washington Studies Program is to give students a behind-the-scenes view of Washington,” Dr. Bryan Sanders, Social Sciences Department chairperson, says. “It exposes the students to life on Capitol Hill to help them to determine if that is an environment they would want to work in.”

Sanders, who has been leading the program for 20 years now, says that through this program, several students receive job offers. Some of the past Washington Studies participants work in Washington today because of this trip.

Sophomore Hannah Beers is already scheduled to go back to Washington for an internship in May. Beers, who interned with Rep. Jason Smith from Missouri’s Eighth District, says that along with helping her set up an internship, the trip helped her gain new perspective on the inner workings of the city where she eventually wants to work and live.

“I see politics and government with a completely new set of eyes,” Beers says. “It’s like a whole new world has opened up to me. The government isn’t one giant thing. It’s a huge group of people working together to make this country the best it can be. It’s not just the news you hear on your television.”

This year’s trip left on February 25 and returned March 8. The team began the week by visiting monuments, museums and government buildings such as the Smithsonian, the State Department and the Pentagon. For Samaan, the most memorable part of the opening week came on the first night as she saw the Capitol Building lit up at night.

“At night, all lit up, it almost looks magical,” she says. “I will never forget it.”

Throughout the week, the team also met with representatives of the White House, the House of Representatives, the Senate and organizations like World Vision, the Heritage Foundation and the Family Research Council.

When the second week began, the students went to work. Some interned with Congressional representatives, while others interned with organizations like the Family Research Council, a conservative research institute that focuses on religious liberty, traditional family values and the right to life.

“I was assigned to projects pertaining to same-sex marriage laws and health policies,” Samaan says. “It was an eye-opening experience to be behind the scenes observing, and taking part in, how a ‘think tank’ operates on a daily basis.”

“Our unique Washington Studies Program allows students from across campus to intern in the office of a congressman, senator or other government office for a week to see what life is like in Washington, D.C.”— Dr. Bryan Sanders Read More

Samaan says her experience with the organization helped her realize where she would like to work in Washington.

“I thought I would love to work for a research institute, away from all the frenzy and chaos on Capitol Hill. However, while at the Family Research Council, I couldn’t stop thinking about Capitol Hill. All I wanted to do was be there, in the middle of all the heated debates and discussions.”

Senior Paul Bayer spent his internship working with Senator Tom Coburn. He said this trip met both his goals, which were to see what life in Washington was like and to make connections with government workers.

“I was ‘thrown into the fire’ as my office put it,” Bayer says. “I was able to get a great feel for the work environment in D.C. is like and made some great connections with the staffers.”

For each of the students on the trip, the Washington Studies Program has left a lasting impression, making some of them hungry to return. And the only regret lies with Beers.

“I saw (2012 vice presidential candidate) Paul Ryan twice,” she says. “Twice! In the same exact location. And I didn’t get a photo. What was I thinking?”

“What would our world look like if we followed the words of Christ?” When Evangel University junior Ryan Odle sat down at the piano one day last spring and wrote those words, he had a feeling that God was about to do something big. Odle, at the time a pre-law major, confesses that he’s not […]

When Evangel University junior Ryan Odle sat down at the piano one day last spring and wrote those words, he had a feeling that God was about to do something big.

Odle, at the time a pre-law major, confesses that he’s not an accomplished pianist and “can’t sing at all,” so composing music wasn’t exactly his forte. Nevertheless, Odle felt compelled to sit at the keyboard that day. “I had to sit at the piano right now. I just knew God was going to say something.”

And in just 10 minutes, the song came out. “God gave me the lyrics and the song just wrote itself,” he says.

The song, “Revolution of Compassion,” took on a life of its own from the moment it was written. Working with other students from Evangel and Central Bible College, Odle was able to have the song professionally recorded and available for download within a matter of months.

The inspiration for the song came from an experience Odle had while doing an internship with Convoy of Hope, an international humanitarian organization headquartered in Springfield, Missouri. That internship – and the song – have changed the trajectory of Odle’s life.

The experience composing and recording “Revolution of Compassion” birthed in Ryan Odle a desire to use his music in ministry.

An unlikely journey

As he looks back at the experiences he has had since coming to Evangel, Odle realizes that his story, like his song, is one that only God could write.

Evangel was not Odle’s first choice. In fact, he started his college career at a community college in California while he focused on his main goal at the time: to be a professional mountain biker. “Biking was the only thing that mattered to me,” he says.

However, after an injury forced him to quit biking he began to reevaluate his goals. “God showed me that biking had become an idol to me,” he says. “So I started researching colleges where God could be the focus.”

He had never heard of Evangel University and didn’t consider a move across the country until he learned about it in a magazine ad. “I decided I wanted to get out of California, see something new,” he says. Two months after he first heard about it he was packing his bags and making the cross-country trek to start anew at Evangel.

With an interest in politics and government, Odle started Evangel as a pre-law major. As he quickly made friends and plugged into Evangel, he found that the Christ-centered life he had hoped to find at Evangel was still eluding him. While cycling had become his idol in community college, he found that academics were becoming his idol at Evangel.

“I let academics take precedence over my spiritual life,” he says. When he went home the following summer, he had to reevaluate again. “I had become spiritually apathetic and was disappointed with where I was spiritually.”

At the suggestion of a mentor, Odle read the book, “Relentless: Pursuing a Life that Matters” by Dave Donaldson, one of the co-founders of Convoy of Hope. Reading the book in the summer of 2012, Odle says, marks a major turning point in his life. “The book is a challenge to my age group, and it sparked a fire in me,” he says.

Back at Evangel the following semester with a renewed commitment to his faith, Odle’s worldview began to change.

“I decided to put God first,” he says. “I finally learned that life is more than a college education or that future job. In my opinion, if you leave college with a fancy degree, but spiritually lifeless you have just wasted four years of your life. Never stop pursing God while you are in school. See God in your classes, activities and relationships. No one, not friends, not family, not church and not Evangel’s Chapel services, can push you to serve God; only you can. I wish, I had understood this my first year of college. I believe it would have helped me greatly.”

Revolution of compassion

Odle had originally arranged an internship at Convoy of Hope because he thought the community service aspect of the position would look good on his law school application.

He did not anticipate the significant impact it would have on his life. He did not anticipate that it would revolutionize his understanding of being a Christian.

“Ever since I walked into the doors at Convoy, I sensed God,” he says. “All of the workers, whether it is the president or a guy who drives the truck, are so excited. Every step they take is an extension of their relationship with God and their love for people. The more I talked and listened and understood what Convoy is all about, the more I realized I had found my calling.”

Odle changed his major to International Studies and began pursuing a future in compassion ministry and advocacy. “I will work for Convoy as long as they will have me,” he says.

This passion was pouring out of Odle the day he sat down to compose. He played it for friends who encouraged him that the song, which raises awareness of world hunger and stirs listeners toward a life of compassion, indeed had a significant message that needed to be shared.

“I truly believe God anointed the song,” he says.

In a development that Odle says has to be “a God thing,” he soon had the opportunity to enter – and win – a contest that provided him with a free recording session at Music Precedent, a professional studio. He quickly pulled together a group of musicians to record with him: David Donaldson on drums and rhythm guitar; Caleb Schatz and Heather Beyer on vocals; Austin Crews on guitar; Jordy Mango on bass; Katelyn Lawler on violin; and Tyler Gilliland on cello.

The band was also invited to play in a Chapel service on April 18, 2013, when Dave Donaldson came to speak and challenge students to compassion ministry. This turned out to be a pivotal day for the university as it was the day the new president-elect, Dr. Carol Taylor, first addressed students. “It was such an honor to play at her first Chapel,” Odle says.

Odle has dedicated “Revolution of Compassion” to Convoy of Hope and plans to donate the proceeds to the organization. In just a few short months, the song has had almost 700 plays online. You can find it at Reverbnation.

“This song is also the start of a music ministry that God has put on my heart,” says Odle. “The vision is to get a band together to play in secular environments as a witness for Christ.”

As Odle heads to Haiti this summer to volunteer with Convoy, he reflects on the journey he has had the past couple of years. “If I hadn’t been injured, if I hadn’t heard of Evangel, I never would have had this experience,” he says. “God is looking for willing people, and if students come with an open heart and say yes to God, He will use them and it will be a wild ride.”